Over the next little while...

We'll be continuing our fight for the cormorants. The killing is over for the year at Point Pelee National Park, with thousands of lives taken and thousands of birds disturbed by the shooting and human presence. Over and over we say it is so unfortunate that this magnificent native bird, which is just starting to rebound after decades of persecution by humans and death by DDT poisoning, is vilified instead of being celebrated. It is disappointing that our government feels the need to "manage" natural processes instead of sitting back and letting Mother Nature do what She does best.

I could go on, but I'll leave my rant at that and mention that we're preparing for a possible Fall Election. Yes, it's hard to believe but when one round of elections and reporting is over, we have to begin preparing for the next round! And our audits from last year haven't even been finalized by Elections Canada! Oh well, that's just how it is. In this next possible election, we'd like run 10 candidates -- 5 in B.C. and 5 in Southern Ontario. So anyone out there reading this, if you're in one of those areas and you think you might like to be a candidate, give us a call = )

On a sad note, our little office foster kitty, Shelly, had to be euthanized on the 19th. She had FIV AND mammary cancer. Her tumours grew rapidly, and on Friday one began to bleed. We had no choice but to spare her pain and discomfort and send her off to a better place. It was a really crappy way to end the week!

Rest in peace, baby girl.

Let the Cormorants Live!

The Peaceful Parks Coalition launched their billboard campaign in Windsor, Ontario throughout the months of May and June as part of their ongoing public outreach campaign to protect the Double-crested Cormorant.

The billboard is located on Walker Road, just south of E.C. Row expressway, facing south onto northbound traffic. Windsor Ontario was chosen as the site of the first billboard because of its proximity to Point Pelee National Park, the site of a brutal killing program aimed at shooting thousands of nesting cormorants at Middle Island.

Middle Island is located in the middle of Lake Erie almost to the Ohio border, and is part of the greater Lake Erie Archipelago Islands. It is managed by Parks Canada, and is part of Point Pelee National Park.

East Sister Island, also located in the archipelago islands, is a nature reserve managed provincially by Ontario Parks. It too hosts a colony of nesting cormorants of national significance. In May, 2009 Ontario Parks announced they too are considering a killing program of nesting cormorants on East Sister Island through the release of the new East Sister Island Park Management Plan.

Ontario Parks has already shot over ten thousands nesting cormorants at High Bluff Island, Presqu’ile Provincial Park on Lake Ontario, and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority applies harassment techniques to discourage any further expansion of the cormorant colony at Tommy Thompson Park, Toronto – currently the largest colonial water bird colony on the Great Lakes.

These government agencies work in tangent to ensure that all colonies of nesting cormorants across the southern Great Lakes are controlled leaving no place safe for these birds to nest and raise their young.

Please Take Action: visit http://www.peacefulparks.org/ppc/action_letthemlive.htm and learn how you can help protect Double-crested Cormorants in Ontario.

Peaceful Parks Coalition
P.O. 326, Station B
Toronto, Ontario M5T 2W2
1.877.785.8636
http://www.peacefulparks.org/
ppc@peacefulparks.org